Smoke flare



Jan. 17, 1967 R. T. mum 3,298,311

SMOKE FLARE Filed Sept. 7, 1965 inventor: Robert T. Catlin HM by w w fltWWW Attorney U for IZ-gauge shotshells.

United States Patent Ofiiice 3,298,?) l l Patented Jan. 17, 1967 Thisinvention relates to signalling flares and in particular to a smokeflare intended to be fired in a hand held flare gun.

The tremendous increase in boating and other outdoor activity in recentyears has led to a need for reliable,

inexpensive and compact distress signalling devices. Both day. and nightsignalling devices are needed that can be used with the same equipment.

It is the object of this invention to provide an improved smoke flareutilizing shotshell components for distress signalling during daylighthours.

It is another object of this invention to provide a smoke flare that canbefired from a low cost flare gun that can also fire aerial flares fornight signalling.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a smoke flareignited by a primed rimfire cartridge case.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a smoke flare witha completely inclosed and weatherproof ignition system.

The aerial flare referred to is disclosed and claimed in applicant'scopending application Serial No. 485,390, filed September 7, 1965.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent asthe following description proceeds, and the features of novelty whichcharacterize this invention will be pointed out with particularity inthe claims annexed to and forming part of this specification.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation view in section of a smoke flare; and

FIGURE 2 is a sectional side elevation of a flare gun for firing smokeor other type flares.

The drawings illustrate a smoke flare 1 having a base 2 and a body 3.While flare 1 can be made in any desirable size it is preferred to makeit using components Base 2 is a standard 12-gauge shotshell base with aprimer opening 4 into which is inserted a double primed 22 caliber blankcartridge or igniter 5. Only priming is used in case 5 so that the gasesgenerated from firing case 5 will ignite flare 1. If a conventionalblank were used, the gases generated would blow the flare mixture out ofbody 3. Body 3 is a 12-gauge shotshell tube but is considerably longerthan a conventional shotshell. Body 3 can be made of any ordinaryshotshell material, such as paper or plastic, but paperis preferred toprevent hot fragments from dropping on the users hands as would happenwhen a plastic body burned and melted.

A conventional shotshell basewad 6 is positioned in base 2 and body 3 isheld between wad 6 and base 2. Wad 6 is formed with an opening throughthe center to allow a primer to be put in base 2 and in this instancecase 5 projects into the opening. Three additional wads 6 are placedwithin body 3 on top of the first basewad so that the smoke mixcylinders 7 are remotely positioned from base 2 for a reason to behereinafter explained.

Each cylinder 7 is formed with a hole through its center to correspondto the holes in wads 6. While any number of smoke mix cylinders 7 can beused, it has been found that three cylinders provide a burning time ofabout one minute and still result in a convenient sized flare.

This desired burning time can be achieved by making each cylindercontain four grams of smoke mix.

To insure proper ignition of the cylinders, a washer shaped piece offlare mix 8 is attached to the topmost cylinder and a washer shapedsection of black powder 9 is attached to the flare mix 8. The smoke mixcylinders 7, flare mix 8 and black powder 9 are contained in a tube orliner 10 made from the body of a 16-gange shotshell.

In order to have the flare function at all times, a solid disk of blackpowder 11 is attached to a shotshell filler wad 12 and this assembly isplaced over cylinders 7 with disk 11 closest to igniter 5. All parts areretained in body 3 by a top wad 13 which in turn is retained by rollcrimp 14. Wad 12 can be of felt while wad 13 can be of cardboard.

Washer 9 and disk 11 can be formed by sprinkling black powder on mix 8and wad 12 and compressing in place or can be made of quick match whichis string coated with black powder.

Reference is now made to FIGURE 2 which shows a flare gun 15 for firingflare 1. Gun 15 has a barrel 16 and a breech 17 which are threadablyconnected together. The two are unscrewed to be loaded with a flare andthen screwed together again. Breech 17 contains a firing pin 18 and afiring pin spring 19 biasing pin 18 toward barrel 16. A knob 20 isattached to the rear of pin 18.

The gun 15 is fired by the operator pulling back on knob 20 andreleasing it so pin 18 strikes the rimfire cartridge of the flare. Itcan be seen in FIGURE 2, that firing pin 18 is offset from center sothat it will properly strike and fire the rimfire cartridge loaded inthe base of the flare but will not fire a conventional shotshell.

Basewads 6 are used to make the total length of flare 1 snflicient tokeep all cylinders 7 out of barrel 16. Because of this length allburning takes place outside gun 15. The holes in wads 6, cylinders 7,flare mix 8 and black powder 9 allow the .hot gases from igniter 5 toimpinge upon black powder 9 igniting it and igniting the remainingsections of flare 1. The force of the gas from only the double primingin igniter 5 is sufficient to force wads 12 and 13 out of body 3 afterpowder 11 has been ignited and in turn ignited powder 9 which ignitesmix 8 which ignites cylinders 7.

The smoke signal is not propelled into the air. The gun and shell arehand held while the shell generates a dense cloud of high visibilityorange smoke. It has been found that flare mix 8 will function properlywhen made of /8 gram of mix and washer 9 should be 2.5 grains of blackpowder, while disk 11 should also be 2.5 grains of black powder.

What is claimed is:

1. A smoke flare comprising a shotshell body, a shotshell base attachedto said body, at least one shotshell basewad positioned within said bodyadjacent said base, at least one smoke mix cylinder positioned withinsaid body remote from said base and a primed only rimfire blankcartridge case mounted in said base to ignite said smoke mix cylinder.

2. A smoke flare comprising a paper shotshell body, a shotshell baseattached to said body, a plurality of shotshell basewads positionedwithin said body adjacent said base, a plurality of smoke mix cylinderspositioned within said body remote from said base, said cylinders havinga hole through their centers, a top wad and crimp to retain saidcylinders within said body and a double primed only rimfire blankcartridge case mounted in said base to ignite said smoke mix cylinders.

3. A distress flare comprising a paper shotshell body, a shotshell baseattached to said body, at least four shotshell basewads positionedwithin said body adjacent said base, at least three smoke mix cylinderspositioned within said body remote from said base, said cylinders havinga hole through their centers, a washer shaped disk of flare mix attachedto said cylinder furthest from said base, a washer shaped disk of blackpowder attached to said flare mix, a top wad and crimp to retain saidcylinders within said body and a double primed only rimfire blankcartridge case mounted in said base to ignite said black powder, flaremix and smoke cylinders.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3, which includes a shotshellfiller wad positioned in said body adjacent said top wad and having asolid disk of black powder attached theerto in contact with said washerof black powder whereby said blank will propel said filler wad out ofsaid body after igniting said solid disk of black powder.

References Cited by the Examiner BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT F. STAHL, Examiner.

1. A SMOKE FLARE COMPRISING A SHOTSHELL BODY, A SHOTSHELL BASE ATTACHEDTO SAID BODY, AT LEAST ONE SHOTSHELL BASEWAD POSITIONED WITHIN SAID BODYADJACENT SAID BASE, AT LEAST ONE SMOKE MIX CYLINDER POSITIONED WITHINSAID